commentary...

i am actually very proud of this year's Red Wings' team,because the team has been a very scrappy bunch... before this season,the Red Wings lost three major stars,two to retirement,and one via a trade,to a rival,and then during the season,they lost many of their other stars to injuries,long times off the ice,due to injury(what the NHL calls man-games,and they were in the top five,in that category),so they have had a very unlike Red Wings' season,and the fact that the NHL season was only 48 games made it tougher on the team... their offense struggled(their road power play went into their eleventh game,before they scored first road power play goal(Valtteri Flippula scored that one)... their team defense was sketchy the first half of the season,giving up soft goals,game after game,it seemed... the most valuable player on the team was,and is,goaltender Jimmy Howard,which means it was good and bad for the Red Wings most of the season... pundits thought that the Red Wings were toast,because of all of the factors,and quirks,going on throughout the season,but this team simply refused to lose... you,as a team,had to play them very tough games,because they had the firepower to surprise some teams(beating the Vancouver Canucks,8-2,and then 5-1,in their first two games that they played),but again,they could look like creampies(losing to the St. Louis Blues,6-0,opening night),on a night that i rather forget,but never will... the difference between this team and the other twenty one playoff teams that the Red Wings have had in this unbelievable playoff team streak of twenty two straight years of being in the Stanley Cup playoffs,is simply this team had more overall grit,simply refused to lose,and if you did beat them,you earned a very hard fought team victory... i will remember this team more than any other team,because this team had undeniable heart....